Digital World of War
by The Shadow Incarnate
Summary: Two years after Oikawa's defeat, the worlds are at peace. Then news comes of armies in the Dark Ocean, borne by a young man claiming to be the first of all DigiDestined and the new Digimon Emperor. He has power, too, enough that he begins gathering an army for himself. But Dagomon knows of him, and his agents begin to stir up trouble. War now comes, and it may leave no survivors.
1. A Beginning

**Author's Note:** Thus begins a tale I have long held close to my heart, waiting for it to ripen. Now I am ready, and the tale begins. A few notes: the point of view in this story is a bit different from normal. Do not go in expecting a standard first- or third-person viewpoint.

And now, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: A Beginning**

I am called Highest, Emperor of the World, Fearslayer, Hopebringer, Destroyer and Savior. I have broken the foundations of the world and built them anew. I sit upon a throne carved of jade and adamant, and I call the winds to be my ears in the world. By my power I have raised up mountains and leveled them, dried seas and refilled them. At my word is peace brokered or peace broken, and when I call, the Four Gods attend and pay heed. I am the First of all Digidestined, who saved the world and later tore it asunder only to rebuild it afterward. I am power incarnate, more than human, more than Digimon. I am Master, Harbinger and Gatebreaker; I have drunk from fountains of living water, and I have seen things that would tear a mortal mind to shreds, commanded armies that blackened the face of the earth for a hundred miles in every direction, and sat alone atop the pinnacle of the world contemplating the End. For the sake of the world, I have sworn oaths to bind my power forever, I and the gods and their servants, we who, in our arrogance, in our lust for power, once brought the world to the edge of ruin. I have walked many miles, heard many stories, seen through many eyes, and heard through many ears.

A tale I will thee tell.

* * *

The tale begins, as it always does, with the Digidestined. Not I, but those who followed after me. I have their memories now, have seen their experiences through their eyes, heard them through their ears. They were _picnicking_ , of all things, on the day when I chose to reveal myself. It was morning in the Digital World, and they had gathered on a beach on File Island. Palm trees waved in a wind that smelled of sea salt and carried the sound of breaking waves across the sands and into the forests. Kari's hair streamed back in a long tail, and not only hers. She did not, _does_ not know her power, or her significance in the world at large. Nor do any of the others, the ones who possess the great Crests, the greatest powers.

Davis, who bears the power of Miracles, made a fool of himself as usual. He had gone into the forest, ostensibly on a bathroom break, but in truth to search for something. For that part of File Island became jungle as one went beyond the beach, and he thought that he might find flowers for Kari. He trudged through the dense underbrush, pushing away hanging vines that bloomed with tiny white flowers, but they were not what he was looking for. Roses would work, he thought, but he had never seen roses in the Digital World before. Of course, he had not been paying attention, but for him that was beside the point. He would find flowers and give them to Kari, and she would smile at him, would thank him, and pluck a blossom free and place it in her hair. This image was deep in his mind, was a dream he greatly desired. And he thought that it would indeed come to pass when, as he began to despair of finding any, he came upon a stand of flowers whose petals were streaked with red and white, whose stems were unthorned, and which gave forth a smell like lavender and rosewater. A shaft of light shone around them, illuminating a pond that teemed with fish, where lily pads floated atop the surface. He looked up at the break in the canopy where the sunlight poured through.

"Someone's looking out for me," he muttered under his breath.

Doubtless someone was. Ebonwumon was such a sap sometimes; it would be like him to set a scene as perfect as the one Davis found.

But anyway. Davis was thirteen at the time, an awkward age, and one I know well. It was all a little silly, I thought, his attempts to impress Kari, to attract her favors.

Perhaps I am uncharitable. Davis had an eye for romantic gestures, and he picked five flowers to bring to Kari. These flowers were _nephredil_ , and their nectar is poison until the blossoms are plucked free from the stems. Davis did not know this; I do, and therefore so do you.

And don't worry. No one's going to die of flower poisoning this early into the story. That is what is called _anti-climactic_ , and it is frowned upon save in parodies, and my story is a true one and no parody.

My apologies for digressing. You came to hear a story, not my endless woolgathering.

Davis held up the flowers and sniffed at them. _Good enough_ , he thought.

"Whatcha doin', Davis?"

The boy spun around. Veemon was there, that insipid smile pasted on his face. Davis quickly hid the flowers behind his back.

"Nothing," he said. "Nothing at all."

"Okay." Veemon leaned to the left a bit. "Why are you holding flowers behind your back?"

Davis grinned emptily. "Flowers? What flowers are those?"

"Um. The ones in your hands?"

Davis craned his neck to look behind him. "Oh, those! Those are for, are for seasoning!"

"I don't think flowers will go very well with rice cakes and hot dogs, Davis."

"Oh, don't worry, they'll do fine." Davis began to whistle as he started back to the beach.

"Are they for Kari? Are you still trying to get her attention?"

Davis stopped whistling and halted out of the shaft of sunlight. "Look, Veemon," he said, "I'm doing the best I can, okay?"

"It's not going to work, Davis."

"It will, Veemon. Give it time."

Veemon sighed. "Okay, go ahead. I'll watch your back."

"That's the spirit!" And Davis began to run toward the beach.

Veemon watched him go, then sighed once more. "Here we go again," he said, and followed the path Davis had broken.

I will admit that I interfered here. Davis was running full tilt toward Kari when he suddenly tripped over a rock that popped up out of absolutely nowhere, sending him tail over teakettle into the space between the towels on which Sora and Mimi were sunning themselves. They, of course, screamed as Davis kicked up a whirl of sand that rained back down onto the two girls. Davis lay there for a moment, coming to grips with what had happened.

He had fallen with his hands stretched out in front of him, and the whipping motion as he tried to get his balance had torn the _nephredil_ blossoms from the stems. They lay in a perfect pentagon a foot from his outstretched hand. He heard the two girls yelling at him, but he paid them no mind. He thought his face might melt with the heat of his embarrassment. For a moment he did not want to sit up, to face the world, but he could not breathe the sand, so he slowly lifted himself off the ground and wiped the sand from his face. Sora and Mimi were glaring at him, and he looked between them, Mimi with her sunglasses perching on her pink hair like a bird, Sora with her sunhat askew, covering her forehead. "Sorry?" he said.

"Sorry?" said Mimi. "You got sand all over us!"

"I know! I know! It was an accident, though, I swear!"

Sora asked, "Why were you running, Davis?" She too had a scowl on her face, but there was a light in her eyes that Davis could not see, though I could. She knew why he had been running; she had already noticed the flowers and had a plan for them.

He tried, he really did, but he could not help but stammer and blush. "I, uh, I was just...Well, I mean..."

It was at that point that Sora pretended to notice the blossoms on the ground. "Hey," she said to Mimi, "look at these."

Mimi turned her glare from Davis to where Sora indicated. "Oh, wow," she said. "They're beautiful." She looked to Davis then back to the flowers and to Davis again. She smiled a secretive, knowing smile.

She's no idiot in matters of the heart, Mimi; I'll give her that. She was older than Davis, and she understood what he had been up to. She took one of the blossoms, held it up and sniffed it. "That's incredible. Where did you find these, Davis?"

He muttered something about the jungle.

"You'll have to show us before we leave," Sora said. She took one of the blossoms and placed it in her hair. "Yolei, Kari," she called. "Come on over here!"

Ah, Kari. The bearer of Light, whose full name meant light. She looked up from her conversation with Yolei. She was pretty, of course, the prettiest of the lot of them, and there was a lightness to her step as she answered Sora, as she stood and walked over to them. She laughed when she heard what Davis had done, but she smiled at him and took one of the blossoms and placed it in her hair, which she had begun to grow out. She sniffed the salt air coming off the sea, glanced at the wisps of clouds above. It was a good day for their party, for the sharing of food and friendship.

Her laugh had hurt Davis the most, though she did not know it, but for him, her smile was like a flash of sunlight through dark clouds. He smiled back at her, though it dimmed a bit as each of the girls put a blossom in her hair.

"You should have one too, Davis," Sora said. "You were the one who was kind enough to find them for us, after all." She smiled at him and placed the last blossom just behind his goggles. Kari raised a hand to cover her giggle.

"Come on, girls," Mimi said. "Let's go find somewhere else to lie. It's a bit too sandy over here." They all laughed as they moved off.

The smile slid from Davis's face. How foolish he had looked, he thought, how stupid, how inept. He took the blossom from his hair and threw it to the side.

It struck Ken in the chest as he neared Davis. He looked down at the blossom as it fell to the ground, then picked it up. "Sorry Davis," he said. "I'm afraid you're not my type."

Davis snarled and marched over to Ken, muttering all the while under his breath. He snatched the blossom from Ken's hand, shredded it, and threw it into the wind, which carried the petals back to the forest from whence they came.

The girls' screams had drawn the boys' attentions, and they too had laughed, though not so loud as to be heard. The older ones knew what Davis was going through, and T.K...

He was a strange one, to my mind. Davis's antics with Kari roused no jealousy in him. There was indeed no jealousy in him at all; he was the chosen one of Hope, whose Digimon was the angel and whose fate was to die. That is my Crest and power: Fate, Destiny, and it is unstoppable, inevitable.

But I was speaking of T.K. A chuckle bubbled out of him as he watched Davis, but it was to Kari that his eye was drawn. He had come to an understanding in the last year: that he and Kari were not meant to be lovers. They were two halves of one soul, each incomplete without the other. They loved one another, true, but not romantically; they were both too young for that, and he knew it. It may be that they would come to that, in time, but it was not then to be.

I have said that T.K. was fated to die, but that is the fate of all things that live. At the time, I knew only that he would die as he had lived: bringing hope to the hopeless. Now I know, but I will not tell you: a tale must be told in the proper order, as befits its internal logic, and I will not burden you with foreknowledge of what is to come.

T.K. was not dead, though, not yet, and he had turned his attention back to his brother. There was still an element of hero-worship in his eyes as he watched Matt. The older boy had his harmonica out, and he was looking at it with a troubled expression on his face.

"I don't know," he said. "I haven't played it in a long time. Too busy with the band, you know."

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't have been a good idea to bring your guitar here," Tai said. "I bet you can't play a single song on that thing."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "What are you willing to wager on that?"

"I wouldn't take that bet, Tai," said Agumon. "I've been talking to Gabumon, and—"

Gabumon jumped on Agumon and clamped the dinosaur's mouth shut. "Don't mind him," he said. "Go ahead, Tai."

"Nuh-uh, no way," Tai said, a grin on his face. "I'm not that stupid."

"Just a little bit stupid, then?" said a voice behind them. Kari had come close enough to listen in, and she stood there smiling.

Tai turned and pointed a quivering finger at her. "You take that back right now," he said.

"Yeah, right," Kari said. "What'll you do if I don't?"

Tai pursed his lips. "I suppose I could toss you in the ocean."

Something sharp poked him in the back. Tai looked and saw Gatomon sharpening her claws on a rock. "What'd you do that for?" he asked.

"Hmm?" said Gatomon. "No reason. I just wanted you to know I was here."

Tai had a very good idea why she had poked him, but he decided not to bring it up. Very wise of him, in my opinion. It is always wise not to make a woman with razors for fingers angry, especially when the woman is, in fact, a Digimon. Arguments with those types tend to be very sharp and to the point, as it were. And short, just like parts of you might be after it's over.

In any case, Tai decided not to pursue that line of conversation, and did not end up missing parts of him he vitally needed, which was terrible, because injuries of that sort are always amusing, and after fifty-seven centuries, most things get boring.

I have not forgotten Cody. He was not among the others; he was perhaps twenty yards away from them, practicing for a kendo tournament. This I found most interesting, since I too am a swordsman, and one with some skill. I have advantages over other humans, of course, but I can appreciate skill when I see it, and the boy had some. He was advanced for his age, flowing from one kata to the next as he parried the sword of his invisible partner. He had another bokotu in his bag, but I did not think he would have time to practice with it; he was wearing the full armor, and it was summer in the Digital World, and he would soon grow weary in the stifling heat of the bogu.

Armadillomon lay back among the trees, his eyes following his partner as Cody dueled the air. He was content, still as a pool after the rain has fallen and the wind has died. The sun warmed him; he drowsed while fragments of dreams floated through his mind. There is power in stillness, for it is the time of gathering strength, when all preparations are taken for the sudden leap. It is true in fighting as in war: the mind is still, centered, and the hands and feet move at its command. Within the hurricane is the eye, and in the eye is peace.

Only in silence the word.

The power of words is very great. Greater than all the power I possess; for words have power to change the heart, which is beyond all strength, all might. Words alone may turn enemies into friends, or friends into enemies; even powers such as the dark spores work only to inflame the darkness in one's heart, and they may be defeated by words if they are the right ones.

Look at how I ramble on. You would think I have nothing better to do. But that is how it goes, is it not? The words take hold, they call forth more and more, until the world is full of words and no one knows the worth of them, save only the politicians and the writers.

These children are children still, despite their experiences, their tragedies. They have not yet faced the brutal truth of reality: All things die. They will die. Their partners will die. Even I, immortal and mighty, shall one day die. Time itself will unravel, and all that was will never have been, unless some new creation springs forth in the void. I do not hope for it.

Of them all, I think Joe felt most clearly the hand of Time upon his shoulders. He sat with his back against a palm tree, a trickle of sweat worming its way down his back, with paper, pencil, and book in hand, studying for the university entrance exam. He looked up at a shout from the sea. Gomamon had caught a fish in his mouth, and he was showing it to Palmon and Biyomon. Joe smiled and went back to his studies.

He will not have the chance to take that test. War is coming, and he will play his part in it as much as anyone else will.

Last of all were Izzy and Tentomon. Izzy was chatting on his computer with Gennai, and Tentomon was eating a melon. I have little use for Tentomon, strong as he is, but I shall need Izzy. Much will depend on him in the days ahead.

And so the stage is set, the players playing their parts, and all is well: now I must introduce conflict. I must enter the game...

* * *

A sound reached the ears of the Digidestined, so soft that it did not at first register in their thoughts: the crunch of boots on foliage. Above that sound was the crashing of waves on the beach, the wind rustling palm leaves, and beyond that were the voices of beloved friends, each battle-burdened, each willing to die for any of the others. They did not hear it, for war does not always come forth with the braying of trumpets and the ring of drawn swords. Sometimes it comes with the tread of a stalking tiger, sneaking closer and closer until it is ready to pounce. So it was here, when I came walking out of the trees not a dozen yards from Cody, hooded and cloaked all in black, my face in shadow, and with a grip on my power that bent the air around me so subtly that one could only see it if one was looking for it. I came forth wrapped in all the mystery I could summon, a riddle and an enigma both. I wanted, no, _needed_ them to fear me, to distrust me, not in the way one fears and distrusts a mighty foe, but as one does a great lord of power whose motives are inscrutable and whose actions are indeterminable. Mystery indeed, for my coming must be to them like the appearance of a god, swift and violent, wondrous and terrible at the same time.

Of course, I also wanted to show off. I wanted to _perform_.

Beneath my cowl, I grinned. This was going to be fun.

It was Gabumon who spotted me first, drawn by a new scent on the wind. He turned toward me and pointed. "Look!" he cried.

They turned toward me. A tall man-shape I seemed, the wind tugging at my cloak in a dramatic fashion, which is always useful. When one must make an entrance, a cloak and a bit of wind are among the best tools one can possibly have.

I looked them over, all their young faces, at the innocence of their lives that they had not quite outgrown, despite all their fights. They would fight for the cause of goodness. They thought that righteousness still existed in the world. I would teach them the truth.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Tai asked.

I gestured toward Izzy. "Have your friend over there ask Gennai. He would be able to tell you."

Agumon nudged Tai with his head. "Be careful, Tai," he whispered. "He doesn't smell human."

Tai replied in a whisper, without moving his lips. "Some sort of Digimon, then?"

"He doesn't smell like a Digimon, either."

"What, then?"

"I don't know. Just be careful."

I rolled my eyes and pitched my voice to a shout. "It's rude to leave your guests out of the conversation, Kamiya. Why don't you say it so the whole group can hear it?"

"A guy could get suspicious when he sees someone come out of the forest wearing black robes and acting like a Ringwraith."

That made me smile. "A Ringwraith would shit his pants if he found himself in the Digital World. We have things that would make a Balrog run crying back to Morgoth."

Izzy narrowed his eyes. "You're human."

"What makes you say that?" I said.

"I've never met a Digimon who knows anything about Tolkien."

"Very few of them do. The Four Gods do, of course, the ones you call the Harmonious Ones, the Sovereigns. Maybe some others. Most of them know next to nothing of the human world."

"Agumon's right," Gabumon said, "you don't smell human."

"I'm not," I said. "Not wholly, anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yolei asked.

"It means," I said, "that I am something this world has never witnessed. Nor ever will again, if I have anything to say about it."

"Oikawa," Ken said.

"Oikawa was a human possessed by a Digimon," I said. "I am something different. Though I will admit that Myotismon probably got the idea from what happened to me."

"You knew Myotismon?" Kari asked.

"Yes," I said, "and he knew me. They all knew me, all the ones you faced. Devimon, Etemon, Myotismon, the Dark Masters, Apocalymon, Daemon, Oikawa. They knew me, and knew I could not stop them, bound as I was."

"What are you really?" Mimi asked. She had moved to stand behind Palmon while the others had been talking.

"I am like you," I said. "Digidestined. The first one, in fact."

Matt glanced at Tai, who met his gaze. They nodded. "Izzy," Matt said, "you still connected with Gennai?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Tell him there's someone here who says he's the first of the Digidestined, and he's got the whole Ringwraith vibe going on."

I raised an eyebrow, though they couldn't see it under the cowl.

"Right," Izzy said.

I raised a hand, and a spark leapt from Izzy's laptop. He yelled in pain and dropped it. It landed facing an empty stretch of beach. Every single Digimon crouched, ready to strike.

Before they could utter a word, I gestured toward the computer. A bright light shot from the computer screen, and it coalesced into the shape of a man in pale robes, a man young enough to be in his twenties. His mouth gaped in astonishment.

Then he saw me. His mouth closed. "Oh,' he said. "You."

"Me," I said.

He turned to look at the computer screen. "You're only supposed to be able to travel from the human world to the Digital World doing that."

"Since when have I cared about rules?"

He smirked. "You followed them during the last few years."

"Not by choice," I said.

"No," he said. "I suppose not. But even you aren't omnipotent."

"I never claimed to be."

"You acted it, though."

"Arrogance is the least of my faults, Gennai. Besides, I have a right to it."

Gennai sighed. "Are we going to stand here bandying words, or did you have a point in bringing me here?"

I nodded. "The Lord of the Dark Ocean has begun to gather in his armies. He will be ready to open a gateway to this world within two years."

And that was it: the words that would change the world. The long fall into night had begun.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Please remember to review. I want to make this the best story I can, and your constructive criticism can only help.


	2. Reforged

**Chapter 2: Reforged**

It was Sora who spoke first. "What is he talking about, Gennai?"

And Gennai, whom I had known for so long, in war after war after war, could say nothing. He gaped at me, his eyes wide, as purely shocked as I had ever seen him.

"How—how could you possibly know that?"

"Oikawa's barrier is not impenetrable," I said. "Not from this side, at least."

"But this," he said, "how do we—"

"Calm down," I said. "I have a plan."

"What?"

"Gather an army. Fight him."

"Oh, yes," he said sarcastically, throwing up his hands. "Brilliant. Do you have one hiding in your pocket, by chance?"

"Of course not," I said. "I plan to conquer the world first."

Gomamon looked up at Joe. "They bicker like an old married couple," he said.

"Or family," Joe said.

I cocked my head at that. "We're not related," I said.

Joe jumped. He'd thought I couldn't hear him. "Well," he said, "you sound like me and my brother when we're butting heads."

"We've known each other longer than you've been alive," I said.

"Not really," Gennai said.

"Subjectively speaking, we have," I said. "But now isn't the time to go into metaphysics."

"Meta-what?" Palmon said.

"Never mind," I said. "Gennai, I brought you here so you could confirm that I am who I say I am."

"Maybe you could try taking off that hood so you don't look like a Sith Lord."

"That's it!" Davis yelled.

"What?"

"That's what he looks like! It was on the tip of my tongue. I just couldn't remember what it was."

Again I rolled my eyes. "You begin to annoy me, Davis."

"Oh yeah? Take off that hood and say it to my face."

I nodded. "As you wish." And I reached up and lowered the hood.

Silence fell. Perhaps they had been expecting someone handsome. I would have been, had my life been otherwise. But the face they saw was about Joe's age, Caucasian, and the right half of it was covered with burn scars: relic of a battle long-past. The nerves on the right side of my face had been damaged, and I have always found it difficult to make expressions with that side of my face. My right eye was milk-white. Much of my scalp had been seared, and hair no longer grew there. On the left side of my face, a huge scar ran from my temple to my jaw. It was an old wound, and the scar tissue had long since turned white.

Mimi flinched away. "What happened to you?"

I traced the line of the scar. "A gift from a Phantomon." I pointed to the burns. "This? A legacy of the final battle with our great foe. The same one who returned to face you when you came to this world. The one I failed to destroy."

"Apocalymon," Kari said.

I nodded. "I could only defeat him for a time. He returned, and it was not my fate to face him again, though I could have beaten him."

"He would have just come back," Gennai said.

"Yes," I said, "and I would have beat him again."

"And again he would have returned."

"I know," I said. "Only he could destroy himself at the last."

I faced the rest of the Digidestined. "Do you believe that I am who I say I am? Do you believe at last?"

Biyomon stepped forward. "You still haven't told us your name."

"No," I said. "I haven't." I raised my head, squared my shoulders. "My name is Alex Mason. I am—I was—from the US, but this world is now my home. I have trodden the bare earth of the Digital World for more than five-and-a-half millennia. Of my old life, only the faintest memory remains. This is my home, my world, and I shall fight with all my power to defend it. None may stand against me."

The last words rang out like a trumpet blast. Its echoes rang across the beach, and the very clouds retreated. I stood there with my head thrown back, my eyes matching the glare of the sun without blinking.

"You are so full of yourself," Gennai said.

I smiled at that. "You know me," I said. "I love a good show."

"And yet, according to you, Dagomon is gathering an army, and you're here grandstanding."

I nodded. "Right. To business, then." I turned to face Gennai. "I hereby charge you to alert the Sovereigns to our plight. Tell them that I intend to raise my banners and gather all the armies of this world to march against our enemy. I ask for their aid. Our enemy is strong, and he will only become stronger as time goes by. We have a year, maybe two, before he will be powerful enough to breach the barriers between our worlds. We will need all our strength to face him. Tell them that for me, Gennai. Then return to me. Bring your clones. I will have need of them."

Gennai considered me for a moment. "I'll do it," he said. "But what about you? What do you intend to do first?"

My mouth twitched in a momentary smile. "I will retrieve my Digimon."

Gennai leaned back. "He was corrupted long ago."

"The corruptor is gone," I said. "He will never return. And I was weak before, but now I am strong. Strong enough, at least, to bring him back to me."

"It's your funeral."

I grinned. "I'm strong, Gennai. As strong as I've ever been since the binding. I will not fail."

"See that you don't." He looked to Izzy's computer. "Can you send me to Azulongmon?"

I shook my head. "There's somewhere I want you to stop on the way there."

"I'm sorry, but I seem to be all out of planes at the moment. Maybe you'd like to fly me there yourself?"

I sighed. "You are such an annoying old bastard."

That made Gennai grin. "I've learned a lot from you."

I rolled my eyes, then waved my hand toward an open area of beach. There was a swirl of sand, and a Mekanorimon appeared there.

Gennai raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you learn to do that?"

"A couple of centuries ago. You need to keep up with things better."

"Whatever. Is it real, or some sort of construct?"

"Yes," I said.

Now Gennai rolled his eyes. "Where is it you want me to stop?"

"Crusadermon's fortress. Tell him that I'm calling him to war. Tell him I want to see him at Megiddo."

"You're using _that_ place as your base?"

"Plenty of flat, open land," I said. "Perfect for maneuvering large armies on." I hesitated. "After you speak to Azulongmon, go to Dome City and see if you can recruit the Guardromon there. Bring them to Hidelion and hire the Tankmon Corps."

"And what am I supposed to pay them with?"

"Tell them my name, and that I will pay in weapons-based data." I held up my hand. A white pearl coalesced in my palm. I tossed it toward Gennai, and he caught it. "Give this to their leader as a demonstration of what I can do for them. Send them all to Megiddo."

"Benjamin is nearer to Hidelion. I'll transfer the data to him and have him hire the Tankmon."

"Do it," I said. "You know how to reach me."

Gennai nodded. "I'll be back soon." He turned to the Mekanorimon.

"Wait just a minute!" Mimi shouted.

Gennai stopped and turned to her. "What?"

"Just what is going on here? We need answers!"

"In time," I said. "Go, Gennai; I'll deal with them."

"Right." He paused at the foot of the Mekanorimon. "You will not hurt them."

"No more than is necessary," I said.

"Not good enough," he said.

"I will need them," I said, "just as I will need you. I won't hurt them."

He eyed me for a moment.

"I don't kill without need," I said, "nor do I cause pain without reason. You know this."

"You did before."

"So did you," I said. "Neither of us is as innocent as we pretend."

Around us, the Digidestined exchanged looks. They could not know, could not understand the words that passed between us, words invested with so many memories that the whole telling of the tale would take days upon days, and still they would not know or understand the sufferings we faced, what we lost, how lost we became. Memory is both a curse and a blessing. For the young, a blessing; to remember bright days under a happy sun, the singing of birds on the wind, the laughter of friends and family, and the high call of youth to the world's delights. And for the old, a curse: to look back on the days that came before and remember with sorrow a time when you were happy.

I am going to break these children. Tear them down and build them up again, stronger than before. They will know what it means to lose, to fail in all that you hope to achieve. For I knew, as I know now, that this would not be a war like anything they, or even I, had faced before. The Digital World was mine, and I could feel, as only I and the Sovereigns could, the will of the Dark Ocean's master as it stirred up chaos. There were great powers in the world, forces that the Digidestined knew nothing of. Some of them would ally with Dagomon, seeing in his victory the chance for greater power for themselves. There were others, too, others who desired nothing but destruction for the world. Dagomon would be a powerful ally to them. No, this was not just about gathering armies to face Dagomon. There would be wars between Digimon, and only I could lead such armies, wielding as I do the powers of both Digimon and Digidestined as well as the powers of Gennai's kind, the Agents. Five of the Agents, to be precise.

As to why I wield such powers, the hour for that telling has not yet come. Patience is a virtue.

Gennai was silent for a moment, and he turned his face downward, but he did not see the sand. He was lost in memory, in reflection, as I had been. Only a moment, and then he looked up at me and nodded. "Be careful," he said.

"And you, too," I said.

Gennai sighed, then looked to the Digidestined. "I trust him, to an extent. He is who he says he is, and what he told you about himself is true. Be wary of him. He won't hesitate to sacrifice you if he feels it necessary." He paused. "But he'll also sacrifice himself if he thinks he needs to. He'll do everything in his power to save this world. If you can trust anything about him, trust that."

"Gennai, you're just digging a deeper hole for me to climb out of. Go, now."

Gennai turned back to me. "As _my lord_ wishes." He saluted (badly) to me, and climbed up the Mekanorimon. After a moment, its jet ignited, and we all had to turn away as it kicked up plumes of sand. I had created it a bit too close to us: its flame was hot enough to cause sweat to break out on some of the Digidestined's faces, and Cody fell back toward the forest so he didn't get burned. Then it was gone.

Silence reigned for a moment. Then the Digidestined turned back to me. The whole of what had happened seemed too great to express in words. They were out of their depth, trying to come to grips with the new structure of their world.

Then Tai said, "Will someone please explain what the hell has been happening here?"

A smile passed briefly across my face. "There will be time for that," I said, "but for now, know that Dagomon, the ruler of the Dark Ocean—the dimension where you sent Daemon—is preparing for war against the Digital World. He is strong, and his armies are vast. I believe he will try for the human realm as well, but not until he conquers this world. Digimon are, as a species, far more powerful than humans. And there are powers here to dwarf anything your world can muster. He will strike us here, and strike us hard. I must gather the armies of the world and bring them together to face Dagomon. I shall gather them at the Plain of Megiddo on the continent of Server. From that place, I can begin my conquest of the world. I will have no other challenger, no rival to gainsay my will. This world is mine, and I shall make it so."

Ken stepped forward, a snarl of anger on his face. "What gives you the right?" he said. "I thought I could do what I did because I was Emperor, and the Digimon were lesser beings than me, but I learned better. What makes you better than me?"

I shrugged. "Nothing," I said. "Rights are an illusion. The only right humans are born with is to die. You are not even guaranteed the right to live, as any mother who has given birth to a stillborn child can tell you. Your birthright is death, and the only thing that gives you anything else—'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' as they say in my home country—is the collective belief of humanity. Rights are as ephemeral as mercy, or justice, or hope—they do not exist in any concrete way, being only ideas that humans imagine to make themselves feel better. Delusions, in other words."

"You're wrong," T.K. said. "I held the Crest of Hope in my hands; I _know_ it's real."

"Think, boy," I said. "The Digital World reflects and refracts the human world. Hope only exists in a concrete form here because humans believe it exists in your world. It is a lie, like courage, friendship, and even love. They are lies that humans tell to themselves. Important lies, yes, ones very important to being human, but lies nonetheless."

"How can you live, thinking like that?" Sora asked.

"I've had a long time to figure this out," I said. "In any case, it doesn't make those things any less precious; in fact, it makes them _more_ precious, precisely because they have to be given meaning by humans. And Digimon, in our case."

"You still haven't answered my question," Ken said. "What gives you the right to rule this world?"

"Power," I said. "The truth is, kids, that Might does make Right. I have the right because I have the power to force the world to do what I want. If the world doesn't want to do it, I can punish them. That is the basis of all law and authority, even in your world. You may not like it, but that's the way it is. Deal with it."

Ah, there it was. The looks of anger, the righteous denial of my words. I expected this. They would know the truth of what I said, in time. But tempus was fugiting very quickly, and I had a job to do.

"I have more important things to do than explain my political philosophies to you right now," I said, "so I'm going to speak very simply. You are soldiers now. Nothing matters but the war. School, home, they are all inconsequential. You can return to those after we're done saving this world." I did not say, _If you're still alive._

Yolei stepped forward. "You can't just—"

My hand snapped up, and Yolei found herself unable to speak. "Be very careful," I said, "about telling me what I can and cannot do." I met each of their eyes in turn. "You wish to know how seriously I take this war? So be it. Watch."

I raised both hands to the sky. Wind rushed toward me; sand flew up in a whirlwind. In the distance, clouds gathered and thunder rumbled. I called upon the powers within me, the powers of those Agents, Gennai's kind, and with them I remade the Tags and Crests of the elder Digidestined, and forged new Tags and Crests for the newer Digidestined. They fell into my hands, six into each one, and I held them up for all to see.

"It can't be," Tai said.

"But Apocalymon destroyed them!" Biyomon said.

"What is unmade," I said, "can be remade." I lowered my left hand, displaying the Crests in my right. "Courage, Friendship, Knowledge, Love, Sincerity, Reliability." Then I lowered my right hand and raised my left. "Hope, Light, Kindness, Miracles, Justice, and Mercy. They are yours, each in turn, and I give them to you freely."

I walked toward them, both hands extended in offering. They tensed and stepped backward, caution and fear mixing in their expressions.

"How did you do that?" Kari said. She alone did not step back. Indeed, she leaned forward, and the Crest of Light began to shine as she neared, shone brighter the closer she came, until it seemed that a star dangled from my fist.

"Take it," I said.

She looked up at me, and I saw her swallow. Mine was not a comforting visage. But she reached out and took her Crest. In her hand, it blazed pink, then faded to the muted reflections of sunlight. Kari put it on, and there was a brief flash, as though the Crest was sighing upon coming home, and then it was still.

Kari smiled and turned to the others. "It's all right," she said. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

I flicked my right hand and flung the Crests in it at their owners. Each caught them as deftly as a baseball player catching a slow toss, as though they had known where they would fly instinctively. Light burst in a rainbow of colors, and then all was still. Almost as one, the Digidestined raised their Crests over their heads and placed them around their necks. A brief glow in all colors, and it was over for them. In their faces was a new glow, that of contentment, as if peace had indeed descended upon them.

I held up my left hand. "T.K., you already had a Crest. Now I give it back to you. I will have need of its power very soon."

T.K., who had been walking toward me, stopped abruptly. "What do you mean?"

"All in time," I said. "Take it." And as I held out the Crest of Hope, a flash of knowledge burst over me: once more would I offer something to this boy, to Takeru Takaishi, and his choice, whether to take or deny it, would decide the fate of the world. And I did not know which it would be, which choice would damn the world and which save it. I have grown used to this; it is part of being the Chosen of Fate, to see the future and yet still face those mysteries that lie hidden in time.

It was annoying, too, but you take what you can get.

T.K. met my gaze, his blue eyes matching the glare from my white and grey ones. Then he gulped and looked down, as Kari had.

"A benison," I said.

He looked up. "What?"

"My Crest," I said, "is that of Fate." I reached to my neck and pulled a Tag and Crest from under my shirt. It dangled from my fist and spun in the air; sunlight gleamed off the gold of the Tag, illumining the symbol of Fate: a sideways S, each end curling into a knob. "I am its Chosen wielder, and with its power, I can at times see the future. This secret I have gleaned, and know it for true: Hope and Light are but two vertices of a star of power, and I foretell that in time you will learn of the other three. The Five Powers are the greatest in all the worlds, and you are the Chosen of one of them. When the shadow of night falls upon you and all seems utterly lost, remember these words, and know that Hope yet lives."

The last words I spoke in a whisper, and I saw his eyes go far away, looking not at me but at some distant vista, some glimmer of a future he hoped would be.

There is a reason sorcerers cast spells, for a spell is both the words spoken and a formula of power over the living and the dead. Words are power, and one needs no magic to wield them.

A long time it seemed that he stared into imagination, but in truth it was no more than a moment. T.K. shook himself and focused on me. "How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Say a few words and then, poof, the world changes." He waved a hand as if to demonstrate.

"I am old," I said. "Because of what I am, and what was done to me, my age in the Digital World matched what it would have been in the human world."

"Wait a minute," Izzy said. "Before we beat Apocalymon, a minute in the Real World equaled a day in the Digital World. How long was it in the Real World between when you came here and us beating Apocalymon?"

Ah. The crux of the matter. "About four years."

"So that means you were here for..."

"More than five thousand years." I smiled. "When I say I'm older than dirt, I'm not kidding."

"That's impossible," Izzy said. "Time doesn't work that way, not in either world."

"The Digital World is made of data," I said. "Of _data_ , which is manipulable. That is how things such as the Crests are made. The datasphere—which is all the Digital World really is—can be changed by someone who has both the knowledge and power. It's why those symbols in that labyrinth you found on this Island can change the nature of those ruins. It is the Code, which is the very power of the world in written form. He—or she—who knows it can bend this world to his or her will. The will of the mighty can change the Code that is written into the fabric of reality, manipulating the world without need of the written Code. Therefore I am able to make a Mekanorimon out of thin air, or reforge the Tags and Crests from nothing. Gennai could have done it, if he'd had enough of his fellows. I have powers he does not, powers beyond anything else in this world, and I can do things he can only dream of."

"How?" Tentomon asked. "How is it you can do all this?"

I paused, considering whether to tell him. "I will tell you in time, that I swear. The hour, though, has not yet come for that tale to see the light of day."

My words seemed to quell them, though I could see that doubt lingered. I could not answer their need, not now, when so much still needed to be done.

I turned to Ken. "You know this Crest," I said.

Ken swallowed. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Kindness. I've never deserved it."

"Shadows lie in all hearts. All that you did was done under the influence of the dark spore, the power of which is to corrupt. You were freed from that power, and have done much to alleviate the sufferings of those you hurt. Know that you will never fully pay your debt, but the very act of trying sets you on the path of redemption. You have earned this Crest, Ken Ichijouji, and I say this with the authority of one Chosen by Fate."

"That's it," T.K. said, pointing at me. "That's one of the great powers you told me about."

I nodded. "I am one of the Five, and mightiest of all."

"Who are the other two?"

I raised a hand to silence him. "Not now." To Ken I said, "Will you take it?"

He shook his head. "I don't deserve it."

"Those wiser than you have decided otherwise. Take it."

I held out the Crest of Kindness. After a moment, Ken reached for it, but as the Crest began to glow with an indigo light, he hesitated. His lips moved in a whisper so low that only I could hear it: "You should have Chosen someone else."

I looked down at Wormmon. Such a look of hope was in his eyes that for a moment I felt sorry for him, knowing as I did the path this would send his partner down. But I am who I am, and I said nothing of this.

Then my gaze turned back to Ken. "You are Chosen, Ken. _Chosen_ , I say, and there are reasons beyond what reason knows. I say this to you with the eyes of prophecy: you will come to earn that Crest, earn it in ways that you cannot foresee. Power is a burden, child; or it should be. I see into your heart: this burden is yours. You will bear it well."

He met my eyes for a moment, then looked to his Crest. "Promise me that you're telling the truth. That I'm not going to fail."

"Would it matter? You're having trouble believing that I even exist. Why should you believe what I say?"

"Because," he said, "it's the only hope for me."

"My judgment?" I said, laughing. "I've done more terrible things than you as the Digimon Emperor could have done had you lived a thousand years. I know the hell I will go to when I die, should that ever happen. Don't give me your sob story, Ken. Mine is worse, infinitely worse, and you know nothing of it."

"If that's so," he said, "how can you stand here so calmly, just saying all this?"

"Time heals all wounds," I said.

Ken raised an eyebrow, and his eyes flickered across my face. "Not all."

There was a slight tilt to my head as I looked him over. "We are the sum of our scars, boy. Do not think that this face is the most hideous part of me."

He narrowed his eyes, but he took the Crest of Kindness from me. Indigo light flashed and then faded as he placed it around his neck. "If all you are is a scar," he said, "what is it that was healed?"

I could not help it: I laughed, long and loud, and got strange looks in return. "That," I said, wiping away tears from my eyes, "is possibly the most astute thing any of you has ever said." The laughter slowed, stopped. I lost my smile. "But don't presume on what you can't know."

Ken opened his mouth as if to say more, but he closed it again. Wisdom yet again. Perhaps Azulongmon had been right about them.

Only three remained. I turned then to Cody. He looked at me with suspicion in his eyes. Just as he had once looked at Ken, I noted. I wanted to smirk at him, but it would ruin the moment. And I knew that it would hurt him in days to come, when he looked back and saw that I dismissed him as a child. I, too, had been in his place, being only seven when I came to the Digital World, and I had felt the anger as my elders dismissed me as something less than they were, simply because of my age.

Stern, Cody was, and in him I saw an anger that transcended the shiver of anticipation that made his clenched fists shake. "And what do you think of me, Cody?"

"I don't trust you," he said, "and I don't think I ever will."

"Wise choice," I said, "but why?"

"You laugh at pain, and you talk about killing as if it's nothing to you. Gennai is afraid of you, and you want to use us like we're pawns in a chess game."

"And just how well do you know chess?" I asked.

"Well enough," he said.

"Then you also know that the pawns are some of the most important pieces on the board. They shape the field and establish the parameters of battle. Lose the wrong one and you can lose the game."

"And you're supposed to be the king, I take it?"

"Life is not a chess game, Cody, and we don't get to restart once the game is finished. This game is played only once, and for stakes higher than you can imagine. As I told your friend, don't presume on what you don't know."

A chill wind sliced through the air, bringing shivers to the Digidestined. My wind, born from my will, passed in moments, but when it was gone, I stood there with a haughty look on my face, holding tight to the threads of my power, calling shadows to dance around me. They saw this, these children born of the light, and stepped back involuntarily.

"I am beyond your judgment, Iori Hida," I said. Cody narrowed his eyes at my use of his given name. "Look now to your Digimon." I gestured at Armadillomon. "He is wise for his years. He withholds judgment until he understands what there is to know about a person. Your haste to condemn those you perceive to have done wrong is your greatest weakness. Do not judge me based solely on what Gennai said. You presume that you know the truth of him, of what he has done in the long ages of his life. Your ignorance of the past leads you to an unsubtle picture of him as noble, a servant of the powers of good. But he was not always so. Darkness lies in every soul, even his. Even yours. Cast it out if you wish. As for me, I chose long ago to hold it close, to know it and myself. You, denying your shadow, are vulnerable in ways you do not see. The unsuspecting soul is open to those who might choose to do it harm. Be wary, Cody. A shadow lies upon all the worlds, and it seeks ever for those it might deceive. Your haste in judging me could bring about the very ruin you have fought to avoid."

With that, the shadows around me faded to nothing, and I let the haughty look pass from my face. "I will not say that I do not deserve judgment, but judgment must often be delayed when greater events threaten. This is such a time. I ask that you stay your hand until the present crisis is finished."

"You'd submit yourself to real justice? Not some pretended thing?"

I nodded.

Cody said nothing for a moment. Then: "I don't want my Crest. Not if it comes from someone like you."

I raised an eyebrow. "You would forsake the power I offer without price in the name of your principles?"

"Yes," he said. "I would."

"Hold on, Cody," T.K. said. "I think you should think this through first. You might need that Crest someday."

"It's not worth it," he said, glancing at the other boy. "Not if it comes from him."

"But—"

"I said no, T.K. Don't make me say it again."

I considered him for a moment. "So be it," I said, and pocketed the Crest of Justice. "When you have need of it, you need only ask."

"I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon."

"As you wish," I said, and turned to Yolei. "Now to you," I said.

"Wait a minute," she said, "I know that Davis has the Crest of Miracles because of the Golden Digi-Egg, but why do I have the Crest of Mercy?"

"It has another name," I said. "It is also called the Crest of Forgiveness."

"But why? What did I ever do to deserve that?"

"Do you remember," I said, "what you were thinking when Hawkmon first Digivolved to Aquilamon?"

"I was—how do you know about that?"

"Answer the question, Yolei."

She hesitated, and a red flush creeped up her cheeks.

"Yolei," Hawkmon said, "I think you should tell him."

She replied in a whisper. "But it's so embarrassing!"

"Why? Because it shows that you're capable of having feelings that show more than just your gung-ho, take-on-the-world side? Besides, everyone else here must have felt something similar."

"Gah. Fine," she said, "you win." She took a deep breath. "I was thinking about Ken, when he was fighing the Golemon, about how he really had changed. That was—that was when I really forgave him for what he did as the Digimon Emperor."

And out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ken look at Yolei as though seeing her for the first time. Another thread woven in the tapestry.

"And yet," I said, "you ask me why you deserve the Crest of Mercy." I smiled. "Take it, with my blessing." And as I held out the Crest, it began to glow with crimson light. Yolei's hands shook as she took it from me. There was a flash of light, and then the Tag and Crest were looped around Yolei's neck.

One last Crest, and then to business.

"Davis," I said, turning to him, "you know what this is." The Crest of Miracles began to glow with a golden light.

"Yeah," he said, and then he fell silent and watched me expectantly.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to say something to me?"

"Such as?"

"I don't know. Maybe how I'm so special that I got something as cool as the Crest of Miracles."

I raised an eyebrow. "To be perfectly honest, I think it's a miracle you're still alive. If I'd tried to pull off the stupid shit you've done when _I_ first came to the Digital World, I'd have been dead a hundred times over. The only thing that's saved your ass so far is the fact that the power of Miracles Chose you. Without that, you'd be dead."

In the background, I heard Tai whisper, "He knows Davis pretty well, doesn't he?" Someone stifled a laugh.

Davis muttered something so low even I couldn't hear it, though I would bet there was a word in there that rhymed with 'muck'.

I turned a great and beneficent smile on the Digidestined. "So it is done. The Tags and Crests are remade, and your powers are made anew. I told you I would need the power of your Crest, T.K."

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "But why?"

"As to that..." I blurred forward in a burst of speed. I slammed into T.K., wrenched him away from the others. They whirled to face us, and there I stood, a sword in hand, held to T.K.'s throat.

"As to that," I said, "you have something I need. And now I plan to take it."


	3. The Farce

**Chapter 3: The Farce**

The farce begins in this way:

There is a blur of movement as Alex rushes toward TK. He moves like both lightning and wind, flashing with power that picks up TK and carries him along as softly as a breeze. It is only when his feet again touch the bare sand that his hand squeezes the boy's throat so tightly that TK begins to gasp for air. A sword has appeared in Alex's hand, plain and unadorned. He throws TK to the sand, kneels over him, and places the point of the sword at TK's throat. His words ring out in the sudden silence as the others whirl to face him.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!" It is Cody who speaks these words, he who voices the sentiments of them all, but it is Matt whose heart seizes in fear, who cries out the loudest, he and Patamon, he the brother, Patamon the partner, in whom the fear has always lived that one day, despite all they might do, they will lose those they care about. In the light of day they deny these feelings, deny that they could ever be parted, brother from brother, partner from Digidestined, but they know this is not true. They are mortal, all of them, and a parting beyond any power to forestall awaits them. For Digimon live again, forever reconfiguring, while humans depart the circles of the world to a fate that none knows. This is the fate that awaits them, that awaits them all, even Alex, so mighty, so arrogant that he pits himself against the very power he embodies.

For the farce has many levels, and while he enacts one of those against the Digidestined, thinking that he is in control, still another lies beyond him, so high and ancient that even he cannot see it, cannot encompass the fullness of it, the vastness of its scope. Even he is a little thing in the span of ages, in the turning tracks of time, as are all things that live.

Words there are that now must be said, for the farce proceeds from its premise to its inevitable conclusion, and the words are spoken by the two who love TK the most. In the same moment, Matt and Patamon cry out, "Let him go!"

Words that must be said.

Words that must be answered.

"I gave you the power," says Alex. "Take him if you can!" And he raises the sword high...

Patamon glows. A cocoon of light enwraps him, and it swells in an instant to twice the height of a tall man, and bursts to show forth the angel, whose hand glows white with power.

And the angel cries out, "Hand of Fate!"

Burning light sears the air between the angel and the young man. It takes the young man in the chest and throws him back across the beach, drives him into the sand until it explodes in a flash of fire. Before the explosion has had time to manifest, the angel has already leapt to cover TK's exposed body with his own. The heat of the blast knocks feathers loose from the angel's wings, but he is strong, strong enough to weather a little blast like that. He takes hold of the boy's shoulders and lifts him to a standing position.

TK looks up into the face of Angemon. His eyes are wide, unfocused. The shock of Alex's blow has not yet faded. "What happened to him?"

"I hit him with my Hand of Fate," Angemon said.

"Then he's..." T.K trailed off as he turned to look at the crater where beam of light had slammed Alex into the sand. "He's dead."

"Of course not." And thus he rises—his cloak torn, but in all other ways unharmed—rises into the air and hovers there, looking down at the sand as though contemplating whether to honor the base earth with the touch of his feet once more. Then he looks up, and on his face is a smile like a lounging tiger's, utterly confident, utterly secure. "I am as far beyond you as you are beyond an ant. You cannot kill me." The smile widens, and he murmurs a word under his breath and flicks his hand toward TK

A ball of red light leaps from his outstretched palm, but Angemon has his staff in hand, and he bats it away as neatly as any baseball player. The ball of light arcs high overhead and begins the descent toward earth before it explodes out over the jungle.

"I can do this again and again," Alex says, and twice more he flicks balls of energy at TK. Angemon knocks them away again, and again they explode.

"Come on, guys, let's get him!" This is the voice of Davis, Chosen of Miracles, and his cry is echoed across the beach. Ten voices cry out the invocation of power, and with a burst of light, twelve Champion Digimon ring the beach.

"All right, let him have it!"

Fire blooms and needles spray, energy in half a dozen forms spews out, all toward the lone figure fifty yards down the beach. He leaps backward, and power vaporizes the place where he stood. Again they fire, and again he leaps aside.

"Hold your fire, guys," says Ankylomon. "Let's get him up close!"

It is Gatomon who reaches him first. She swipes at his face with her Lightning Claw, but he ducks it and kicks her across the beach. Behind her comes Angemon, his staff a blur, but Alex blocks it with his sword and presses him back with a flurry of cuts and jabs. Stingmon enters from the side, the purple blades of his Spiking Strike jabbing like spears. Alex jumps over them, only to find Garurumon leaping for him.

"Howling Blaster!"

The burst of blue light streaks toward from the wolf's mouth, but Alex is ready. With an outstretched hand, he turns away the strike, letting it fall harmlessly in the water. Aquilamon dives toward him, his horns elongating as he cries, "Grand Horn!"

Alex accelerates downward, then punches upward, striking Aquilamon's beak. The great bird spirals away and crashes into the trees while Alex alights on the beach. Then he begins a slow walk toward TK.

"Nova Blast!" A great ball of flame sears the air, but Alex raises a hand, and the blast disperses like sparks from a campfire.

"Is there no one here worthy of challenging me?" Alex shouts.

Ankylomon steps up beside TK. "You just get on out of the way now, and I'll take care of him."

"Be careful," TK says.

"No problem." Ankylomon keeps his eyes on Alex, says nothing about Angemon and Stingmon sneaking up behind. "Not a problem at all."

* * *

By all that is good, I wish I did not have to fight them.

The strike in the back comes out of nowhere, but though it does not truly hurt, it also drives me forward as Ankylomon's Tail Hammer sweeps in to crush me. That one I manage to roll under, but Stingmon is there, his Spiking Strike blades like brass knuckles as he tries to punch me. My sword swats him away, and I duck under the sweep of Angemon's staff, which catches Stingmon's arm. The groan that rises from the bug-man is welcome, but as I turn toward Ankylomon, a giant blue fist comes out of nowhere and smacks me to the ground. I roll backward as Exveemon tries to stomp me, and I leap into the air just as Togemon comes in with a huge right hook that would have caught me right in the face if I hadn't moved. I hover in the air a moment, catching my breath. I haven't been this exhilarated in years.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Five missiles streak toward me.

"Dammit," I say. "Solar Ray!" From my outstretched hand, yellow balls of energy fly like miniature suns, catching all five missiles in the open air. The blast is enough to flatten everything below me—meaning Greymon and Ikkakumon. They fall, blood running from shrapnel wounds, while I remain unhurt.

Up comes Kabuterimon, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he shouts "Electro Shocker!" This time, I do not dodge. I dropkick the purple ball of energy, and it hits Kabuterimon in the chest. He rocks back, smoke rising from charred chitin, while I soar into the air, farther and farther until only Birdramon is higher. She cries out her attack, but the bursts of fire disperse on the edge of my sword. The last I catch in my hand and throw back at her. It misses, but sears the edge of her wing. She descends with a cry of pain.

Shouts of power come from below, and power leaps toward me. I float there, waiting, until at the last I summon power from my inmost being and cry out, "Lance of Fate!" A spear of purple and gold light materializes in my hand, and I swat the Champions' attacks aside. I float on high, untouched save for the ragged edges of my cloak, and I smile at them.

"I gave you power," I say. "Use it. You cannot defeat me as you are."

"He's right, you guys," says Tai. "You've got to Digivolve further!"

On the chests of the Digidestined, the Crests begin to glow. And this is what I have waited for, the whole point of this fight, this farce:

For one Digimon to Digivolve to Ultimate.

I watch as the light of Digivolution engulfs Angemon.

A whisper passes my lips: "Now comes the end."

And MagnaAngemon stands once more in the Digital World.

* * *

I am a teller of tales. A tale, by its definition, is fiction. Thus, my account is fiction. How can it be anything else? The tale is told by a narrator, and a narrator always has his/her/its biases. More than that, a tale told can never convey the whole truth of the situation. How can I tell you of the interaction of molecules, or how electrons dance in their clouds? How tell of the birth of the wind, if ever birth there was? Why tell? What do these things matter, in the end?

They matter because I cannot say all things at all times, for I am mortal, limited, though mighty. All the words in the world can convey only the sense of things, the feel of what was and is and will be. But I must tell all, as best I can, with this limited language, with words too small to encompass the things they describe and are.

Most of what I have told lately is of me, my thoughts, my will, my doings, my power. This is not a good thing. The act of tale-telling is an act of creation, as well as a labor of love, as a child is. And a child is not a copy of its parents but, if all goes well, a mixture of what is best in them and more, a new light, a new-kindled spark of goodness in the world.

Believe me not when I say all is empty, that the world is without hope, that immortality is only an illusion. For I am more than that, and the words I use are too small to contain the truth of what I believe.

But I digress. To properly tell this tale, you must know what goes on in the minds of all the players, not I alone. How, then, to tell of all they think and know and believe? How to tell of all they are?

Let it begin with the youngest of them: Iori Hida, nicknamed Cody by his friends, he who bears the power of Justice, but has turned aside from that power. A sense of vindication flows through him. He knew what I was, knew all along that I was an enemy, that I would betray them all. Why, though, he thinks, did I give them the Crests? For their power is real, he sees, and knows that, if the Digimon can Digivolve to Ultimate, it is likely that some can Digivolve to Mega. What power does he possess, this Alex Mason, to give such power to the Digidestined and then attack as if that power was dust on the wind? Some darkness touches him, he thinks, some shadow acts through him. The powers of the Crests must be tainted. This he believes so strongly that he grabs hold of Davis's sleeve.

"Be careful!" he says. "He might have booby-trapped the Crests!"

"Huh?" Davis takes hold of his shining Crest, and he feels a surge as the power of Miracles rushes through him. "I don't think so, Cody."

"Why do you think he gave you the Crests, and then attacked us? It makes no sense."  
"You don't understand," Davis says. "I can _feel_ the power. It's like sunlight shining through every part of my body."

I have felt what he feels. It is more than that, but Davis does not have the words to say it. Imagine standing in a field under a clear summer sky, the sun's warmth like a mother's hand upon you. Imagine the touch of a breeze carrying the smell of blooming flowers with it, and the sound of children laughing as they play. The power is like that, but more. To feel it is to feel the rightness of the world, as if divine glory has taken root in the deepest part of your soul. To feel it is to find fulfillment; it is to understand all that makes life worth the living.

To Davis's words, Cody can say only, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know. It's like...like life. Like I'm more alive, more _real_. I don't know how to explain it."

"No! He's using you, Davis, don't you see? It just feels that way because he made it that way!"

Davis turns to Cody, and the boy steps back. Golden light shines from the Crest, and it reflects in Davis's eyes as if they were lakes of molten gold. "No," he says, and his voice has a new depth; echoes as if they stood in a cave and not on a beach in the midst of battle. "This is right, Cody. More right than anything has ever been. Trust me."

"But..." And Cody trails off, looking into Davis's eyes, meeting the golden stare, and he thinks, I've lost him. He's gone over.

But the light of the Crest fades and the golden glow in Davis's eyes dies away, and now the clear brown gaze is accompanied by a smile. He puts a hand on Cody's shoulder. "It's okay. Everything's going to be all right. I promise."

But Cody shrugs away the comforting hand and turns to look at the army of Ultimate Digimon. "I don't believe you," he says, "but I hope you're right."

Davis watches as the Digimon circle me, moving into position. "I am," he says, and in his voice there is no hint of doubt whatsoever.

* * *

Strange are all the ways of the Digital World, and none more strange than that which governs the life of the world. For this world is a world of light, indeed, of the Light. It is the power which upholds the world, which binds its substance to its immaterial source in the world of mankind. For they are more connected than anyone knows, even we whose purpose it is to guard them. What is in the human world is in the Digital World, and more. This world is data, which—like courage, friendship, hope and love—is immaterial; but more than that, it is a world of ideas, and every idea in the human world has its reflection in the Digital World. Light is the great principle of human religion; it is the highest expression of power, the most wondrous of all things; that which stands in the light is good, and even that which falls from grace is said to fall from light to darkness everlasting. Thus it is that in this world Light is greatest of all things, second to none, not even to Fate. Hope is the guiding principle; Fate binds past to future; and Light gives life to the world.

Look into her eyes when next her power comes upon her. Look, and see the high empyrean, the soul of fire given form. When at last I did so and looked into her eyes and saw there how my life would end, I took the measure of her, understood at last the power of Light in its purest form, and saw also myself, stripped bare of all illusions.

Do not ask what I saw there. This is not the place to tell of that. Let it suffice to say that none of them were looking when the power came over Kari, when the specter of my power was blasted away by the light of Digivolution, and in none was it stronger than in those two, the Chosen of Light and Hope, born as they were to embody their powers, as I was mine, and as the others were theirs.

Light gave birth to living might, and there stood on the beach eleven Ultimates and one Champion. Paildramon for Veemon, Dinobeemon for Wormon, and Silphymon for Hawkmon. Alone of them all Ankylomon stood still in Champion form, his power to Digivolve bound up in the Crest that sat useless to him in my pocket. I looked upon them all and did not fear, for they were none of them strong enough to defeat me, not with the powers I possessed, but I did not need to beat them, nor wanted to; my purpose was all upon one of them, the one whose power held hostage my greatest desire.

MagnaAngemon looked up at me, his great helm obscuring his eyes, and I wondered then what lay behind that mask, what tale his eyes might tell of what lay within him. But all I could see was the twist in his mouth, the teeth shining white as he bared them at me. The others, too, glared at me, but their fury was not so great, their hate not so complete as that of the angel. And not just MagnaAngemon, either. His equal, his opposite, the shining lady of war, looked on me with anger near to his, seeing what I know not, but I know what I saw in her: love. Love for the angel, for the goodness in him, and all that he could be. And I thought on what might happen when he at last went to his fate, he and his partner, going into death's kingdom where no light of hope dwells. I thought of telling her what I saw, what I thought and knew, but pity would be no balm, and to know the truth would do them no good. This despite all I had done to annul Fate's power over the world; still I knew some things, and what I foresaw _would_ come to pass.

Even so, I still pitied her.

"Surrender now," said MagnaAngemon. "You won't get another chance."

The lance of power in my hand sizzled against my skin. "You are not strong enough to kill me, angel, nor ever will be. But I did not come here to kill you, or any of the others. Can there be peace between us? Long enough, at least, for us to talk?"

Angewomon looked at her counterpart. "He can't be serious."

"I think he is," said MagnaAngemon.

"Come on, guys, let's get him!" Davis, of course.

But it was not his will that would govern this day.

"Hold on, Davis," Kari said, and she came up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

A thrill shot through him at the touch. "Wh-wha?"

She looked up at me. There was a weighing look in her eyes, as though she measured me to a nicety. "I think," she said, "we should let him talk. I really don't think he means us harm."

"Have you lost it?" Matt's voice. "He tried to kill my brother!"

"You saw what he did with our Champion Digimon, Matt. Do you think he couldn't have killed TK if he wanted to?"

"But..." Matt sputtered. "He..."

TK, standing beside Ankylomon, turned from watching their discussion to me. "Is it true?" he asked. His gaze was fixed on me while the Crest of Hope dangled on his chest. His eyes were narrowed, calculating.

He knew something was wrong. The feeling he'd had when MagnaAngemon had Digivolved, when his Crest had activated, had been like nothing he'd ever experienced. Something, he knew, had changed. Cody had been right; wherever I had gotten my powers from, I had altered the Crests somehow, or so he thought. But right now he wanted an answer from me. The rest could wait.

"Yes," I said. "I could have killed you before anyone could have stopped me. But I did say, didn't I, that I don't kill without need, or cause pain without reason?"

"Could've fooled me," TK said.

"There is a plan, as I told Gennai, however it may seem to you." I dropped down to the beach, holding a moment just above to give the sand time to settle, and then set down. The lance of power in my hand faded to nothing. I spread my hands to show they were empty. "There is a purpose to all I do. Even this." I lowered my hands.

"Like what?" Ken said. He came toward me, and there was a cut on his face where shrapnel from someone's attack had nicked his chin. "Threaten our lives, endanger our Digimon, and then beg forgiveness?"

"On the contrary," I said, eyeing the Digimon. "I needed the Ultimates. One Ultimate in particular." And with that I turned to MagnaAngemon. "You."

"And why would you need me?" he asked.

"Wait a minute," Izzy said. "You were talking to Gennai about needing to find your partner." His words drifted off as his eyes came to rest on MagnaAngemon's sword. "And you said he was corrupted..."

"So I did," I said, sighing. "So I did."

TK looked between me and his Digimon. Then he realized what Izzy meant. "Oh no. No, no, no. No way are you going to free him."

"It _is_ necessary," I said, beginning to walk toward him.

MagnaAngemon raised his blade and pointed it straight at my chest. "Don't even think about it," he said. I stopped and looked up at him.

"What would you not do for him, angel? Would you kill for him, kill even me, if his safety required it?" I turned to face TK. "But he has, hasn't he? He has slain and will slay again until all those who threaten you are threats no more. Should I do any less?"

"You're talking about releasing _Piedmon_ ," TK said. "There's no comparison."

"The soul of darkness corrupted him; he was not evil before."

"He nearly killed us all!" Sora said.

"Even so, he is mine." I looked her in the eyes. "I will not let him languish beyond the gates of time."

Sora shivered. My voice was soft, but there was certainty in it enough to move mountains.

"I won't ask him to do it," TK said. "Never." He folded his arms across his chest.

I considered him for a moment. "Do you doubt my ability to control him?"

"Digimon like Piedmon can't be controlled. Not by any human." Ken, of course, and who should know better than he?

But I... "I am so much more than human," I said, "and you would do well to remember it." I looked at them, so young, so fragile, bound together as they were by pain and struggle and heartache, and said, "This may be the least of what I ask of you in this war. Do not defy me in this. I _will_ have my way."

But MagnaAngemon echoed his partner: "Never."

"Ah," I said, and nodded. "So be it."

A wind was coming up. Silence held sway as I turned away from them. Surrounded my monsters on every side, I walked down to where the surf began to lap against the shore and looked out over the sea. The spray stung my eyes, and I tasted salt on the air when I drew in a deep breath. Then I spread wide my hands and laid my power over the face of the waters.

No storm winds raged; no lightning fell. There was only the long, slow fall into silence as the wind and the waves became still, and peace reigned over the deep. With the sun at its zenith, the water, tinted green by floating bits of algae swept up in its tides, was clear enough to see the seafloor fall away to darkness in the distance. All was quiet in the noonday light.

I lowered my arms and turned to face the Digidestined. I said nothing for a time, merely watching, judging their reactions. There was awe there, in varying degrees. I had thought to do something more, something flashier, more destructive. But there is a time for that, and it was not here. Such would have caused them to fear me, and it was not fear I needed right then; fear would only drive them away, would set them harder against me, seeing that I had destructive power on such a scale. I judged this a wiser use of my strength.

I saw open mouths and wide eyes. I saw throats clench as some swallowed, and here and there, hands clenched into fists. So, more than awe: fear. Who among you would not be afraid if, in the midst of friends and family, the sun winked out, or clear skies fill with thunder and lightning?

Can you really blame them?

* * *

"This doesn't change anything," Matt said.

WereGarurumon looked down at the young man. "Matt?"

"It doesn't," Matt repeated. "We still can't let him free Piedmon."

"Matt, you're shaking," said the wolf-man.

Matt looked down at his hands. Indeed, he was. "It's nothing," he said. "Just jitters."

"Maybe he can do it," TK said.

Matt looked up. "You can't be serious."

"Piedmon was as evil as they come," Angewomon said. "Not even Alex could change him."

"Perhaps," I said, "you should look to the one among you who served the powers of darkness himself."

Silence fell again.

"Ken has fought hard for this world," Dinobeemon said. "Don't bring him into this."

"No," Ken said, "it's okay. He's right. I did serve the powers of darkness for a time. And I came back." He glared at me. "But I lost someone I cared about, and I had people willing to forgive me. I had parents who loved me. What does Piedmon have?"

"Only me," I said, raising my hands in a helpless gesture. "Only what I can offer. The comfort of a friend's presence. Forgiveness for what was done under the control of evil. A way to redeem himself."

"I don't know if you _can_ redeem him," Matt said. "He killed our friends."

"Have none of you killed?" I asked. "Have you not taken life when it might otherwise have been saved?" I began walking toward them slowly. "Grace is always unearned," I said, "and it is not justice to condemn a being whose mind was twisted, who was shaped by torment and shadow into a servant of the dark."

I stopped a dozen yards away from the others. "Give him into my care," I said. "It is only by my hand that he will ever be free of what he was made into."

"How?" Joe asked. "How do you plan to change him back?"

"With this," I said, and held up my Crest. "When he holds this in his hand, he will remember his old life."

"How do you know that?"

"To be blunt, I don't. But I think that's what will happen."

"Oh, come on!" Davis said. "You ask us to trust you, then you say you don't have a clue if it'll even work?"

I found myself grinding my teeth together. "I did not say _that_. I merely said I was not _certain_. No one can be _certain_ in this sort of thing."

Mimi shook her finger at me. "And you're willing to risk all our lives on that? Are you insane?"

"By some definitions of the word, yes, I am. But that's beside the point. If I succeed, I will have turned one of your most potent enemies into an ally. If I fail..." Here I paused to look out over the silent sea. "If I fail, I will kill him so utterly and completely that he will never be reborn. I swear that to you."

Silence greeted that for a moment. Then Joe said, "You wouldn't."

"I will," I said. "He fought Apocalymon in the first war, fought with all his heart and power. I knew him better than anyone. He would have hated serving the dark as he was made to. He would've rather died than live so."

Matt scowled at me. "Then why didn't you stop him when he was taking over the Digital World?"

I sighed. "You'll find out all the answers in time. For now, let's just say that I was bound in ways that I no longer am. That binding was why I couldn't help you on any of your adventures. But I've broken some of them now, and I can act at last." I turned away from the sea and back to them. To TK above all, and I met his eyes, his blue, mine white and grey, and said, "You know what it's like to lose your best friend. Let me bring him back. Let me see my partner again."

The whole endeavor hung on this moment. TK was the one who held the angel's leash, and he was the one who knew best, other than Ken, what it was like to lose your partner. I knew he was the weak link, the one whose heart I had to turn. But I needed more than pity; I needed them to know how strong I was, to know that I could handle Piedmon if things went awry. Now they knew, and so it was up to TK to either give or deny what I needed.

* * *

He didn't know what to do. He remembered the day they'd fought Devimon, all those years ago, when he thought he'd lost his best friend. Sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, images of Angemon's sacrifice sifting through his mind. It always took him a minute to remember that he was back in the real world, that Patamon was beside him, on his bed, his light snores a gentle reminder of his presence. And it was in those moments that he thought how lucky he was, how fortunate to survive and win against enemies no child should ever have to face.

Now, on the beach, he wondered what it must be like to be the first one into the Digital World, the first to bear the burden of the Digidestined and, apparently, the first to lose his partner, and then—

A thought: a question that must be answered.

"Were there others? Other Digidestined, I mean?"

Alex froze. No, more than froze; he began to shake. Just the tiniest bit, but it was there. "Others?" he said. Then the shaking stopped, and he was again the controlled, calculating young man he'd been since he first appeared. "Yes," he said, "there were others."

"What happened to them?"

"Killed," he said tersely, "by Apocalymon. Them and their partners."

TK drew in a sharp breath, but his mind kept working. "If Apocalymon deleted them, then their partners would have come back."

"No," Alex said. "Digidestined and their partners are closely linked. They each share in the other's life. A Digidestined whose partner dies isn't harmed by it because it's the nature of Digimon to reincarnate. But a human...a human _ends_. They are gone forever. And that part that the Digimon shares with the human is gone, too. They become a shell, like the walking dead, and when they die, they do not return. That is the end of them. Forever."

A silence grim and grey as winter clouds met his words. How, TK found himself asking, did he know this? Why had they never been told? _Was_ it true? Or was he lying?

TK didn't think so. The unfocused stare of Alex's eyes was too distant, too absorbed in memory to be false. If it was, he was the greatest actor who had ever lived. Then, as if waking from a long sleep, Alex blinked and once more turned to look at him. "Enough of that," he said. "I still need an answer from you, TK."

The others turned to him as well. He felt the weight of their stares, understanding the seriousness of what he was being asked to do, and the responsibility it placed upon him. But in his mind's eye, he saw Angemon vanishing into puffs of light. What would he not have done to bring back his best friend?

"Okay," he said. "MagnaAngemon, open the gate."

"No!" It was Cody's voice. "TK, you can't!"

"Are you sure, TK?" MagnaAngemon said. "What if he's lying to us?"

TK did not look at him. His glare was focused on Alex. "I don't think he is. But if he _is_..."

"I'll be ready."

"TK!" He looked down to see Cody standing beside him. "You can't do this! He's just using you! He's playing on your emotions, manipulating you. Don't fall for it, please, I beg you!"

* * *

At this last obstacle, I tensed. A part of me wanted to strike down Cody, but it was a small part of me, easily quashed. This was their choice; any action on my part would destroy the fragile balance I'd built up. If TK made the wrong choice...well, I'd deal with that when the time came.

* * *

And now the farce reaches its conclusion. This is the point on which the whole sad affair turns; it is the meeting place from which many roads sprout. But the players do not know this, are unaware that there even is a farce, save one, who thinks himself its master, not knowing that he too is a part of it.

TK heard Cody's words, absorbed their impact, but running through his mind was what Gennai had said: _He'll do everything in his power to save this world. If you can trust anything about him, trust that._ Gennai had never led him wrong before...

"I don't trust him," he said to Cody, "but Gennai does, and I trust Gennai."

"But Gennai could be wrong about him! He doesn't know everything, he can be fooled just like any of us!"

"He's never let us down before, Cody. Give him a chance."

"No! MagnaAngemon," he said, turning to the angel, "I know you don't trust him. He attacked TK, and he'll do the same to us once Piedmon is free!"

But MagnaAngemon was thinking, _He never attacked us so hard we couldn't defend ourselves. We never scratched him, but he never used powers that would have destroyed us._ "I don't think he meant to hurt us, Cody. And he could have, you've seen that for yourself."

"But..." Cody floundered, looking at the other Digidestined for support. "Surely the rest of you..."

"Well," said Sora, "it's like TK said. Gennai trusts him, and we trust Gennai."

The older kids nodded.

Cody swung to Yolei. "Yolei, he knocked Aquilamon out of the sky! Surely you're not going to just stand there and accept this!"

Yolei looked from Cody to the others. "Well..."

"Hold it right there!" Davis shouted. "I want some answers!"

Alex watched Davis, considering. "What do you want to know?"

"Why the hell _did_ you attack us? And why the hell should we trust you after that?"

 _Finally_ , Cody thought. At least someone was using their head today. Then his brain short-circuited when he realized it was _Davis_ who was being the responsible one.

Alex shrugged. "I didn't think I could get your Digimon to Digivolve if there wasn't a threat, so I became the threat. You'll notice that none of you are dead, and as for your wounds, well, I'm willing to heal those if you want."

"Very generous of you," Angewomon said nastily. "My side still hurts from where you kicked me across the beach."

He raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing.

"That's a bullshit reason and you know it," Davis said. "You coulda told us who you were and none of this woulda been necessary."

"Um," Alex said, looking at the older Digidestined, "did you tell them how close Piedmon came to beating you all?"

"Well..." Joe said.

"Not in so many words," Izzy said.

"Right." Alex turned back to Davis. "Piedmon came within moments of killing them all. If TK's Crest hadn't activated, they wouldn't be here now, and the Digital World might still be under the control of Apocalymon." He gave each of them a meaningful look. "Isn't that right?"

Mumbles to the tune of 'yes, maybe' were heard across the beach.

"They would never have allowed Piedmon back into the world," Alex said. "Not until they—until _you_ believed that he could be controlled. That is what the fight was meant to do. That, and to prove to you that the Crests worked."

"Yeah, about that," Davis said. "Something weird happened when Exveemon Digivolved. I got this feeling like...like..."

"Like you were a word spoken by the sunlight," Alex said.

Davis gave him a strange look. "Yeah...yeah, I suppose that's a good way to put it..."

"I felt it too," Sora said.

"So did I," Yolei said.

"I think we all did," Izzy said. "What was it?"

"Your Crests," said Alex. "They were activating, and you felt their power as it drew on your inmost selves."

"Inmost selves?" Mimi asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

A snarl passed over Alex's face. "I've answered enough of your questions. Takaishi! Make up your mind, now!"

TK hesitated, and then said, "I want your word that you won't harm us or the Digital World when MagnaAngemon opens the gate. Your _word_ , Alex. Nothing less."

"You have it," he said.

TK nodded. "MagnaAngemon?"

"No!" shouted Cody, but Davis put a hand on his shoulder and leaned down.

"Don't forget," he said, "we've got Imperialdramon if things go bad, and probably Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon too. We can take whatever he throws at us."

Cody looked up at him. "But what if he's stronger than all of them by himself?"

Davis started to speak, but hesitated. Then he shook his head. "I don't know," he said, and looked back at MagnaAngemon, who was speaking to Alex. "But I'm not scared."

That was the problem, Cody thought. None of them seemed to think there was anything at all to fear. That, he thought, would be the end of them all.

He settled in to watch Alex and MagnaAngemon. He would not be fooled. He would watch, and wait, and when Alex betrayed them, he would be ready for it. He would be the one who saved them all.

* * *

"Where do you want to do this?" MagnaAngemon asked.

I pointed to a spot a little way down the beach. "There. Far enough away from everyone that they won't get sucked in."

"Very well." He began to stride down the beach.

I let a smile overcome me. So long I had waited...

I had gained this moment through lies and deception. Now at last I would reap the fruits of my labor. I followed after him.

MagnaAngemon stopped about a hundred yards away from the others. "Will this do?" he said.

I nodded. "Are you ready?" I asked.

"Are you?"

I smiled. "Always. Begin."

MagnaAngemon nodded. With the blade of his sword he drew a circle of purple light in the air and said, "Gate of Destiny." A golden gate marked with symbols of the Code came into being, turning in place as MagnaAngemon leapt into the air and floated away. The gate kept turning for a moment, and then it opened onto a grey void. Immediately I felt the pull of the gate, but I was stronger than Piedmon or Blackwargreymon, and needed no help to brace me against it.

Nothing came out. A minute passed, and then another, and still nothing.

Behind me, I heard Tai say, "What's happening? Why isn't Piedmon coming out of the Gate?"

I walked up to the gate and reached in with my right hand, wincing as the tides of Destiny began to abrade my skin. It took only a moment to find what lay beyond, what I needed more than anything.

Out of the gate I pulled a mask, half black and half white, so frayed and torn that it was little more than a rag. My hand was bloody, covered with scrapes and welts from the power that lay beyond the gate. I held up the mask with the bloody hand, and in the light of the noon sun, it was so shadowed as to be almost black. "Close the Gate," I said. "There won't be anything else coming out of it."

"What the hell happened to your hand?" Davis asked, staring at it like it was diseased.

"Beyond the gate is only death and destruction," I said. "Of all that Piedmon was, only this is left." I indicated the tattered mask.

"But you said Piedmon would come out!" Sora said.

"He lied," said MagnaAngemon.

"No," I said. "I wasn't sure. This was one possibility among many. But I expected it."

"You deceived us!" Cody yelled.

I laughed. "I've deceived you in many ways today," I said. "This is just one of them."

"So I was right!"

"Only in part. I really don't mean you harm, but I did change the Crests so you would act more favorably toward me. Their power is real enough, but you might want to see Gennai about them if you want to be free of my hold on them. In any case, I don't need it anymore. I have what I want."

A wind rose out of the silence, and from far out to sea there came waves to unsettle the calm of the beach. I could not have long kept the wind and waves still—my power, bound as it was by the same oaths that bound Gennai's kind as well as the Four Gods, was not so great—but it had served its purpose. As the Gate began to close, I grasped the mask with my unwounded hand and dripped blood from the other onto the mask, which sucked it in as though drinking it.

The wind was rising to a gale, as though to make up for the calm I had willed. My cloak whipped out to the side as from behind me Izzy shouted, "What's he doing?"

"Calling my friend back from death's kingdom," I said, and my voice alone rose clearly into the storm that the wind was becoming.

"Stop him, MagnaAngemon!" TK shouted. He leaped for me, and the other Digimon took it for their cue, but I turned to halfway face them and raised the bloody hand. "Sol Blaster," I said.

Light gathered in my palm, bright as the sun, and it grew to a dazzling radiance wider than the beach before I released it. It shot toward the Digimon, and before they could blink, it had engulfed them. Before they were destroyed, though, I jerked my hand skyward, and the ball of light shot up into the air, streaking higher and higher before disappearing to no more than a thin gleaming. It left behind a host of In-Training Digimon, their faces marred by burns, their limbs (those that had them) splayed out in pain. The Digidestined ran to them, cries of dismay on their lips, but I turned away from them. There was something more important for me to do.

* * *

Yolei watched the shining light eat away the ground between Alex and their Digimon with terror rising up her throat. A scream tore its way out as the light swallowed the Digimon _and kept coming_. This was it, she thought, he's really going to kill us. Then, instead of eating them all, the light shot upward, leaving behind a blur of afterimages. She followed its path until it dwindled to nothing, and when it was gone, she looked back and found Poromon lying amid the partners of the other Digidestined, his feathers scorched at the ends. The sand around them was charred black; here and there it sparkled like glass. Was _probably_ glass, Yolei told herself. A veil lay over her thoughts; the world seemed to move in slow motion: the clouds approaching from seaward; distant thunder; sand blowing into her eyes; all of it as though she were moving through water and not air.

Then suddenly the feeling vanished as Sora screamed, "Yokomon!" As though waking from a collective dream, the Digidestined ran forward to gather their partners in protective embraces.

"Are you okay, Poromon?" Yolei said, her voice cracking with worry. "Say something, please!"

"Oooohhhhh," he said, "did anyone get the number of that semi that hit us?"

Tears made streaks down Yolei's face as she said, "You're okay. That's all that matters."

"No," he said, his high, squeaking voice full of worry, "it's not, Yolei. What is he doing? We can't let him...can't let him..." With that, he fainted.

Yolei looked up. Alex knelt on the beach, his hand reaching beneath his cloak to pull out his Tag and Crest. Somehow he removed the Crest from the Tag and touched it to the black and white mask.

Lightning crashed down, so bright it blinded, the thunder so loud it was a physical force knocking Yolei back. She fell to the ground, her arms wrapped around Poromon, her head hunched low as if that would lessen the thunder's blow. Again lightning fell, and yet again, and the ground shook with repeated blasts of thunder until it seemed that the whole world might crumble at her feet. She was screaming, she knew, but it was lost amidst the cacophony. She raised a hand to cover her eyes, but so bright were the flashes that her flesh became translucent and she could see the shadow of her bones through her skin. The air grew so hot that it seemed she could do nothing but burn before the power of the lightning.

Then it was gone: the light, the heat, the thunder, save for the last rolls petering out over the sea. Only the wind still blew, but it was a gentle breeze, not the tempest from before. Waves washed over the beach, reaching even to where Yolei laid on the sand. She barely noticed as her clothes got wet; she was watching what was happening further down the beach.

Alex stood perhaps a pace away from a tall, clown-like Digimon that overtopped him by at least a meter. Piedmon—she assumed it was Piedmon; she'd never seen him before—was looking around with an expression of surprise on his face. Then he looked down. "You!" His voice was high, nasally.

"Me," Alex said.

Piedmon looked to the Digidestined, to TK in particular. "So," he said, turning back to Alex, "you brought me back. Why?"

Alex gave a very small smile. "I want your help."

Piedmon threw back his head and laughed. " _You_ desire _my_ help? Why on earth would I help you?"

"Your master is dead. He tried to take the other Digidestined with him when he went. You are alone."

"Hmm." Piedmon considered TK. "How did you get them to open the Gate?"

"That? I told them you were my partner."

Piedmon nearly choked. "And they believed you?"

Alex shrugged. "I made it sound convincing. And it wasn't wholly false."

"Oh yes, I know. My master— _former_ master, I suppose—told me about that. I hope you know it doesn't matter in the slightest."

"I'm not a sentimentalist," Alex said. "The bond was broken long ago. I doubt it can be restored now."

"Even by you? You've grown humble since last we met."

"Hardly," Alex laughed. "But things have changed since you ruled this world."

Piedmon stroked his chin. "Yes...You aren't bound anymore, are you? I wonder how that came about..."

Alex grinned. "I destroyed the Temple of Fate."

Piedmon raised an eyebrow. "You broke your own power over the world. For what?"

Alex spread his hands. "Freedom," he said. "But freedom has a price. Dagomon is gathering armies in the Dark World. He plans to conquer this one, and the human world as well."

"And why should I care?" Piedmon gestured vaguely toward the sea. "Perhaps I should join with him."

"If you do," Alex said softly, "I will tear every fiber of your being from its moor and scatter the wreck of your soul across the heavens."

Piedmon hesitated. "So you say," he said. "But I think not." A smile returned to his face, full of wicked mirth and secret knowledge. "You're a big talker, but you're still a soft-hearted fool. You won't do anything to me. You still see me as your partner, down underneath all those barnacles that've up around your heart. You're a _romantic_ , and that's your weakness."

"Is it?" Alex said

He moved so fast that it seemed he teleported right up to Piedmon's face, thrusting his hand straight into Piedmon's chest. The clown gasped and fell to his knees. Alex pushed his face right up to Piedmon's.

"You are mine," he hissed. "Body and soul, you are mine." He withdrew his hand, and black blood covered it. Piedmon fell limp to the ground, and Alex knelt over him. On each cheek, he inscribed a symbol from the Code. In a soft whisper that carried to where Yolei could hear him, he spoke these words:

 _Flesh is mine, bone is mine,_

 _Blood is mine, soul is mine,_

 _Mine forever, till time dies_

 _And the stars fall nameless_

 _From the sky. Hate me,_

 _Fear me, love me,_

 _It matters not; I am eternal,_

 _Chosen of Fate. Serve me always_

 _And forever, thou spirit of woe,_

 _That hate and fear should die,_

 _That power and destruction_

 _Should gain new purpose._

 _Rise up, fallen one,_

 _Corrupted child of ancient days,_

 _Rise and know_

 _That my hour has come,_

 _The battle is won,_

 _And the future is mine._

 _This my edict, this my word,_

 _That all may know_

 _That I reign once more_.

Then the beach was quiet once again, but the scent of rain hung in the air like a presentiment of the future. Piedmon looked up at Alex and Alex looked back, each seeing in the other something that Yolei did not know, something she did not _want_ to know; whatever it was that passed between them was too high a matter, too mighty a knowing for her to ever desire its touch.

* * *

Too high a matter; too mighty a knowing. The girl actually thought those things. But what did she know? What words can describe rapturous delight or oceans of agony? For I felt both those things, deep as I was in the moment, deep as death is deep, deeper than light or even love, so deep that all my being was focused on the darkness within Piedmon, on shadows that had shackled him to the whim of evil so ancient and strong that words cannot convey the time or the potency.

Yet light there was, and though it was dim, dimmer than the ghost-gleam of a star seen out of the corner of the eye, I knew, knew beyond doubt, that it was there, and that I alone could find it, that I alone had power and knowledge enough to find it. Little hope there, you might say; he was the darkest of the Dark Masters, the one who came closest to defeating the Digidestined; there could be no spark of goodness left in him.

But the good was not what I sought. Truly there would be nothing left to find, not after fifty-seven centuries separate from me, under the sway of darkness. But not all darkness is evil; that is as false as equating goodness with light. True, there is a strong correlation, but the wise do not judge based on where someone stands, but on what someone does. And Piedmon had been loyal to his master, had come closest to achieving his master's purpose out of all the Dark Masters. Faithful service was the light that lived in him, the seed, the spark, the tiniest hook through which I could tie him to me, his soul—such as it was—bound to mine in a twisted parody of that which connected the other children to their partners. Twisted, yes, but it was enough; I would settle for it.

Light surrounded us, and a silence like screaming. Ears ringing in the quiet, I removed my hand from Piedmon's chest, and the light took him, encased him in a shining webwork, and he began to shrink, smaller and smaller until on the beach there sat an egg the green of the still and silent sea, patterned with white stars that glimmered with reflected sunlight after the brilliance had faded. Such a small thing, beautiful to look upon but heavier than one would think. Darkness within, darkness only I could feel, bound to it as I was, but which would be obvious to any other if they held it. I had not banished the shadows, only reshaped them to my will. This was my greatest ignorance: I did not know what would happen to Piedmon, or rather to the being that he had now become. I was entering new territory here, meddling with forces whose bounds I did not fully understand. I knew the hazards, though, had a grasp of what could go wrong. I simply judged it more advantageous to have a partner with me than to go to war without one, despite all the dangers of deprogramming Piedmon. My choice, and my price to pay if it went wrong.

Silence now held the beach. Clear the sky, aquamarine the sea, black the sand surrounding me, and shadowed the faces of the Digidestined. I took the Digi-egg in my hands and stood, turned to face them, looked down upon them with a magisterial air. Softly, ever so softly, I said, "Even during the greatest war of your world, there was a period of waiting, of consolidation of forces. There remains perhaps three months of peace. I intend to spend them well. You will be useful to me in what comes. I will call upon you often in the days ahead. For the help you have given me this day, and as a small repayment for what I have done, I give you this gift."

With a wave of my hand, their wounds healed, their backs straightened, their Digimon returned to their Rookie forms (Champion, in Gatomon's case) and settled on the beach in an alert stance, ready to fight if I showed any signs of aggression.

But I did no such thing, said only, "Tell Gennai of what happened here. Tell him that the future is in question, and the balance of time is shattered. I have destroyed the Temple of Fate, and its power over the world is broken. We are free now; free to win, and free to fall. I have unbound the world from time, and the future and the past will now interweave with the present. I know what that means, and I will not tell Gennai all that I suspect. Tell him to ask Azulongmon the full implications of my choice. As for you..."

Here I paused for dramatic effect.

"Your lives are about to become very surreal. Be very careful. Time itself is in flux, and what has been and what will be will become part of _now_. Be wary. Your world will not be affected, but this world will soon become far more dangerous than it already is. You will begin to notice the effects soon. Stay alert, and always choose the right path. You need not fail."

I pointed to Izzy's computer. It had fallen to the ground and now sat upside down. It flipped up and the screen turned to face me. "Another gift," I said, and from my hand streamed bits of data that swirled around Izzy's computer and set it humming to life. "I have placed in this computer a program that will always be able to locate me. Use it in conjunction with your map of the Digital World to come here."

I turned to go, but stopped a moment. "I will call on you very soon now. Be ready. Time waits on no man or mon. Be ready," I said again, and picked up the Digi-egg. Then I made my way into the forest, and was gone.

* * *

 _And far away..._

"My lord, I have come."

"Further in, Gennai. There is something here you must see."

Gennai stood. Beneath him was bare stone, and above him was the ceiling of Azulongmon's cavern, but now it showed the night sky, stars gleaming by the million, and over all, the arc of the Milky Way as it would have been seen from Earth. The walls surrounding him glowed green with bioluminescent moss. This moss illuminated a path through the stone, and Gennai followed it as the last echoes of Azulongmon's voice faded from the cave.

He wondered what it was Azulongmon wanted to show him. There were secrets, he knew, secrets that Azulongmon kept from him. Kept from everyone, because that was the way of gods; it was not for Gennai to know all things, and he had accepted that long ago. He, too, had secrets, as Azulongmon well knew. They were allies, and if each had secrets, each knew the other would share them if the safety of the world required it.

"My lord," he said, "Alex has begun to move upon the world." He said it to the open air, knowing that in this place Azulongmon could hear everything he said.

"So I had surmised. He has done something terrible, something I had never imagined he would do."

"What?"

"As soon as you arrive."

"My lord, he says that Dagomon is gathering armies in the Dark Ocean, that he will be ready to attack this world within two years' time."

That brought forth a silence deep as the Abyss. Then Azulongmon sighed. "Of course he is. It makes sense. For every step forward, there is another back."

"What do you mean?"

"Do not take the right fork in the path as you always have. Go to the left, and you will see what I mean."

Gennai halted. That was one of the secrets Azulongmon kept hidden: the secret of what lay down the left-hand path. "My lord, I would not intrude upon your domain."

"The time for such secrecy has passed. Come now. I have need of you."

And as the path looped around, Gennai did indeed come to a fork. The right path led upward to the Azulongmon's meditation chamber. It was there that Azulongmon had given Gennai one of his Digicores, where they had planned the salvation of Earth in the Christmas invasion. He took the left fork, and as he walked further down the tunnel, the moss became patchy, and then it died away completely. Gennai placed his hand against the wall and followed it as it turned and turned again.

Then the cave took a downward turn, sloping further into the earth, and the air grew colder as he descended in the bowels of the earth. Time seemed to slow, and he felt as though he were moving through a thick fog. Shadows loomed around him, and in the distance he heard the sound of running water. _What has he done to make Azulongmon bring me here?_ By the way Azulongmon had spoken, whatever Alex had done was to blame for Dagomon's incipient invasion. But it made no sense. Gennai, for all that he had opposed Alex all those many years ago, could not imagine him as a traitor.

And then, as he rounded a corner, he saw a great light shining golden in the midst of a vast cavern. Gems of great quality—diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, onyx and jade—glistened along the walls. Pearls the size of robins' eggs littered the path that led up to a great stone table around which Azulongmon himself was coiled, looking down upon something Gennai could not make out.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"The Heart of the World," said Azulongmon, and in this place, with its veins of silver and gold running through the walls like rivers of living metal, with the bright beams like sunlight emanating from a point near the ceiling, with every form of wealth imaginable to mortal minds displayed as though all of it was dross, even his voice was subdued.

"What does that mean, my lord?"

"Come to the table."

Gennai bowed and came forward. To call it a table was a misnomer: it was a square about a hundred feet to a side. As he neared, he saw that it was a map, encompassing the entirety of the Digital World. Of this Digital World, at least; none of the other worlds guarded by Azulongmon's peers were shown. Gennai looked closer. "Here," he said, pointing to a specific mountain. "That's where we are."

"Indeed."

Gennai scanned the map. "What am I supposed to see here, my lord?"

A strand of Azulongmon's beard reached out and pointed to the map. "This map," he said, "is a reflection of the Digital World. Everything that is in the world shows itself here."

"So...is something here that shouldn't be?"

"The opposite. Something is missing."

The strand of Azulongmon's beard moved to a specific point in the northwest part of the continent of Server. "Tell me, do you see something missing here?"

Gennai looked, and a cold fist took hold of his heart. "That's where the Temple of Fate should be."

"Indeed. He has destroyed it."

Gennai looked up at Azulongmon, and he found the great dragon's four eyes watching him. "How could he do that? _Nothing_ can destroy the Temples, not even you. Not even him."

"Of all things in all the worlds, only he has the power to destroy the Temple of Fate, just as the others are the only ones who can destroy their Temples."

Gennai pondered this for a time. "What does this mean for the world?"

And Azulongmon told him.

* * *

In the Empyrean Citadel, the one who knows looked out from his prison and contemplated his return. The bindings that had held him for eons beyond count were wavering, and he knew that they would soon break. For he was who he was, and in the end, even Fate bowed before him.


End file.
